Comic bookshttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/6572/all
enThe Bacardi Story Is Now a Graphic Novel, Created by Two of the Industry's Top Talentshttp://www.adweek.com/adfreak/bacardi-story-now-graphic-novel-created-two-industrys-top-talents-159527
Roo Ciambriello<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/blogs/bacardi-comic-hed-2014.png"> <p>
What goes great with rum, besides Coke? A graphic novel, maybe?</p>
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Bacardi tapped famed comic writer Warren Ellis and artist Mike Allred to create a graphic novel celebrating the history of the Bacardi family and the brand&#39;s Cuban roots. It&#39;s a continuation of its &quot;Bacardi: Untameable Since 1862&quot; campaign, and a quirky video about the project shows some of the thinking behind this new installment. (The best bit is that rum was even added to Allred&#39;s ink for the graphic novel.)&nbsp;</p>
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The Ellis-Allred collaboration is sure to generate some interest among graphic novel fans, but how about rum drinkers (not that those two are mutually exclusive)? At the very least, it&#39;s an interesting twist on telling your company&#39;s story without relying on the traditional cinematic, intricately costumed 60-second ad.</p>
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You can <a href="http://www.bacardi.com/us/heritage/spirit-of-bacardi" target="_blank">download the graphic novel at the Spirit of Bacardi website.</a></p>
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Advertising & BrandingBacardiBacardi RumComic booksGraphic NovelsFri, 15 Aug 2014 13:41:48 +0000159527 at http://www.adweek.comComic Icon Archie Will Die Taking a Bullet for a Gay Politicianhttp://www.adweek.com/adfreak/comic-icon-archie-will-die-taking-bullet-gay-politician-158915
David Gianatasio<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/archie-dies-ep-2014.png"> <p>
Archie Andrews, the iconic American comic book character introduced 73 years ago, will die this month when he takes a bullet meant for an openly gay U.S. Senator who supports stricter gun control.</p>
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His death (which we should note isn&#39;t much of a spoiler since it was revealed by the creators months ago) occurs in Life With Archie No. 36, and its aftermath will be featured in No. 37, the final volume of a series that follows the grown-up adventures of the character and his pals from Riverdale, USA. The more familiar teenage Archie lives on in other titles, which, like many comics, have their own continuities.&nbsp;</p>
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Archie has focused on serious social topics quite a lot in recent years, with stories exploring cancer, death, affordable healthcare and gay marriage. (The wedding of his friend, Kevin Keller, sparked a boycott from conservative group One Million Moms in 2012.) The main character&#39;s death, however, clearly ups the ante and has generated considerable media attention since the twist was revealed in April. (The details of Archie&#39;s death weren&#39;t disclosed until this week, and the shooter&#39;s identity hasn&#39;t been disclosed.)</p>
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Major comic book characters have &quot;died&quot; before, notably <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Superman" target="_blank">Superman</a>, <a href="http://www.scifinow.co.uk/blog/the-death-of-captain-marvel-and-the-birth-of-modern-superheroes/" target="_blank">Captain Marvel</a> and <a href="http://marvel.wikia.com/Death_of_Spider-Man" target="_blank">Spider-Man</a>, but Archie&#39;s demise is different because he&#39;s a mortal with no special powers who sacrifices himself in a politically charged narrative.</p>
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&quot;He&#39;s human. He&#39;s a person. When you wound him, he bleeds. He knows that. If anything, I think his death is more impactful because of that,&quot; Archie publisher and co-CEO John Goldwater <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/archie-shot-saving-gay-friend-comic-book-24547396" target="_blank">told the Associated Press</a>. &quot;We hope by showing how something so violent can happen to Archie, that we can&mdash;in some way&mdash;learn from him.&quot;</p>
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For the most part, public reaction has been mixed, and mainly split along progressive/conservative lines. One Huffington Post commenter says Archie&#39;s writers have &quot;taken this venerable old line <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/14/archie-gay-comic-shooting-_n_5584166.html" target="_blank">and breathed a new essence into it,&quot;</a> while another chides, &quot;It is exasperating to see the extent of childish propaganda in our society.&quot;</p>
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<a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/14/5898195/archie-dies-saving-gay-best-friend-kevin-keller" target="_blank">A Verge reader asks,</a> &quot;Is it really appropriate to take a character that&#39;s been a comic book character and a pop culture icon for 70+ years and to kill him off for the sake of a modern political statement? That&#39;s like &hellip; killing off Donald Duck to protest the Vietnam War, or killing off Charlie Brown to protest the Affordable Care Act.&quot;</p>
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Some question whether a potentially powerful message is undermined by offing Archie in one story arc while he remains youthful and alive in other series still available on newsstands. &quot;While I&#39;m all for tackling tough issues in comics, my problem is that <a href="http://comicsalliance.com/life-with-archie-confront-gun-violence-penultimate-issue-archie-comics/" target="_blank">Archie isn&#39;t going to stay dead,&quot;</a> writes a commenter at ComicsAlliance.com. &quot;When you write a story tackling something like gun violence, when the main character of the book eventually comes back the whole point of the story loses its weight.&quot;</p>
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Chris Cummins, who follows comics at DenOfGeek.us, takes a broader view, and believes that Archie&#39;s martyrdom is in keeping with his selfless personality and true to the spirit of the overall series: &quot;This demise is a fitting and tonally perfect tribute to a character who has always put his friends first.&quot;</p>
The PressComic booksControversyGay RightsGun ControlTue, 15 Jul 2014 13:39:37 +0000158915 at http://www.adweek.comWhich Type of Wikia Superfan Are You?http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/which-type-wikia-superfan-are-you-158493
Michelle Castillo<p>
What kind of <a href="http://www.wikia.com/Wikia" target="_blank">Wikia</a> fan are you?</p>
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A massive, 100,000-person survey by the popular wiki farm and audience insights company VisualDNA has classified Wikia users according to nine groups, unearthing potentially valuable consumer data for advertisers.</p>
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&nbsp;Wikia fans are categorized as game heroes (gamers), digital DNA (always connected users), social entertainers (clique leaders), culture casters (music nerds), inquisitive minds (creative types), influence-hers (family women), fan girls (female tweens), Gen Z (tech-savvy kids) or pop classic (comic book aficionados).</p>
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While entertainment advertising is a natural fit for Wikia, Dirk Herbert, head of strategy and planning at <a href="http://www.fcb.com" target="_blank">FCB Global</a>, said it can get tricky when it comes to some CPG advertisers it works with, which include Ghirardelli and Kikkoman.</p>
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&ldquo;[The Wikia study] will spark thinking outside what is usually done in the category to do something that the target audience is passionate about,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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For example, knowing that the group social entertainers&mdash;made up of older c females to young baby boomers&mdash;love gabbing about fashion might lead to a campaign that, while promoting food, includes fashion themes.</p>
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Added Jennifer Betka, svp of marketing at Wikia: &ldquo;If a brand chooses to engage with fans, they can do so in a way that doesn&rsquo;t pander to them.&rdquo;</p>
TechnologyComic booksGamingGen-ZMagazine ContentmillennialMichelle CastilloSun, 22 Jun 2014 22:49:20 +0000158493 at http://www.adweek.comDesigner Brews Up a Super Set of Comic Book Beer Labelshttp://www.adweek.com/adfreak/designer-brews-super-set-comic-book-beer-labels-157266
David Kiefaber<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/blogs/superbeers-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
For adult comic fans, superheroes and beer always go together. But Orlando, Fla.-based graphic designer Marcelo Rizzetto is taking that pairing to a new level by creating beers inspired by each member of D.C.&#39;s Justice League.</p>
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<a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/16146169/Super-Hero-Beers" target="_blank">His first six bottles</a> honor Batman (of course), Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Flash. In addition to incorporating each hero&#39;s logo into their beer label, he&#39;s created varietal names that correspond with each character. For example, Batman is a dark ale, Green Lantern is a pale ale, the Flash is an Irish red ale, and Wonder Woman is a classic American lager.</p>
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Honestly, that last one should have gone to Aquaman, just to continue the old joke about American beer being mostly water.</p>
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Check them all out below:</p>
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Via <a href="http://designtaxi.com/news/365234/If-Superheroes-Brewed-Their-Own-Beers/" target="_blank">Design Taxi.</a></p>
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Advertising & BrandingAquamanbatmanBeerComic booksDesignDavid KiefaberPackagingsuperheroessupermanWonder WomanFri, 25 Apr 2014 16:37:44 +0000157266 at http://www.adweek.comDid Preacher Finally Find a Home at AMC?http://www.adweek.com/news/television/did-preacher-finally-find-home-amc-153941
Sam Thielman<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/preacher-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
It&#39;s been a long way for Preacher from the comic book page to the small screen, but an adaptation of the salty DC Comics horror/Western book (formerly with DC&#39;s corporate sibling HBO) might finally be getting closer to full-fledged production, this time at AMC. A tip was&nbsp;<a href="http://badassdigest.com/2013/11/16/amc-is-taking-preacher-to-pilot/" target="_blank">first reported</a> by Badass Digest on Saturday, with geek-culture blog 13th Dimension publishing a third-hand story about <a href="http://13thdimension.com/amc-chief-told-me-net-has-purchased-preacher-by-menachem-luchins/" target="_blank">an encounter at a comic book store with network group COO Ed Carroll</a>.</p>
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All this is to say that there appears to be <em>something</em> going on with the property at AMC, though the network didn&#39;t offer any comment. Badass Digest claimed that the network had already inked a full-fledged pilot order; that would be quite a ways out of character for AMC, which has been very slow to green-light new scripted series and has made much of every script deal along the way. From what Adweek is hearing, Preacher <em>does</em> appear to be in development. It just remains to be seen what stage the project is in, and who&#39;s attached.</p>
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One person claiming to be part of the show is Seth Rogen, who tweeted, &quot;Looks like about seven of years of hard work are about to pay off. I may get to bring one of my favourite [sic] stories ever to life.&quot; The next tweet was names of characters from the series&mdash;Arseface, John Wayne, and the Saint of Killers. It&#39;s been in development many times since the comic book was running in the late 1990&#39;s, notably with Mark Stephen Johnson attached to an HBO series, and then with Sam Mendes signed on to direct a movie version. As recently as August, D.J. Caruso <a href="http://www.iamrogue.com/news/interviews/item/9516-iar-exclusive-interview-director-dj-caruso-talks-standing-up-preacher-invertigo-and-a-possible-i-am-number-four-sequel.html" target="_blank">told a writer for the Rogue Pictures PR site</a>&nbsp;that he was working on an adaptation, so Johnson, too, may be involved.</p>
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And yes, as careful readers may have gleaned, Preacher is a pretty profane comics series, filled with sex and violence and lots and lots of blasphemy. The six books, by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and published by DC&#39;s grownup-targeted Vertigo imprint, follow down-on-his-luck reverend Jesse Custer (note initials), who gets possessed by a half-angel, half-demon creature that gives him the ability to make anyone do literally whatever he tells them to do. He&#39;s chased around Texas and parts adjacent by a secret organization called The Grail and meets a century-old vampire who becomes his closest friend, all while trying to track down a God who has abandoned mankind.</p>
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The book is challenging stuff in completely different ways from the disturbing material in The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, but if the success of those shows has shown anything, it&#39;s that an audience will go some very dark places with TV writers as long as they&#39;re interested in what happens next.</p>
TelevisionAmcAMC NetworksCableComic booksEd CarrollSam ThielmanPreacherSeth RogenThe Walking DeadMon, 18 Nov 2013 20:54:22 +0000153941 at http://www.adweek.comWatch All 75 Years of Superman's Career in Just Two Minuteshttp://www.adweek.com/adfreak/watch-all-75-years-supermans-career-just-two-minutes-153222
David Kiefaber<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/blogs/superman-75th-hed.jpg"> <p>
Superman turns 75 this year, so Warner Bros. commissioned Man of Steel director Zack Snyder and animator Bruce Timm to put together a short cartoon recapping Superman&#39;s career in comics, TV and movies. In about two minutes, we see the Man of Tomorrow throw cars, punch through airplanes, fly through traffic irresponsibly, get <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_vs._Muhammad_Ali" target="_blank">punched in the face by Muhammad Ali</a>, wear his underwear over his pants, fight Bizarro, get sort of killed by Doomsday and do a whole bunch of other stuff that you can learn more about in <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/decoding-zack-snyders-two-minute-649105" target="_blank">The Hollywood Reporter&#39;s blow-by-blow analysis</a>. Kudos to the creators for incorporating all the different eras of art styles, not to mention working through all of DC&#39;s continuity issues to the point where Superman&#39;s byzantine back story actually seems coherent.&nbsp;</p>
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Advertising & BrandingComic booksDC ComicssupermanWarner Bros.Fri, 18 Oct 2013 11:57:53 +0000153222 at http://www.adweek.comVIDEO: How to Make the Perfect Comic Book TV Showhttp://www.adweek.com/news/television/video-how-make-perfect-comic-book-tv-show-151437
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As the nation&#39;s geeks and nerds pack away their spandex and cardboard cosplay costumes (until October&#39;s New York Comic-Con of course) staff writer and office comic book aficionado Sam Thielman explains who should be TV&#39;s next smash hit superheroes.</p>
TelevisionAdweek OriginalArrowbatmanComic booksDCThe HulkWalking DeadWonder WomanThu, 25 Jul 2013 17:45:29 +0000151437 at http://www.adweek.comSuperheroes Need Savinghttp://www.adweek.com/news/press/superheroes-need-saving-134601
Anthony Ha<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/wonder-woman-2011_0.jpg"> <p>
For fans of Superman and Batman, September will be a momentous month&mdash;Time Warner&rsquo;s DC Comics is clearing years of superhero continuity by resetting the numbering on all of its titles back to 1. More significantly, the company is acknowledging that the future of the comic books may not be on paper.</p>
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Like its rival Marvel, DC has been working with startup comiXology to bring its comics to Apple&rsquo;s iPad and other devices. And now DC has gone completely &ldquo;day-and-date&rdquo; with its digital releases, issuing the physical and digital issues on the same day. (DC announced this plan in the spring; Marvel followed with the news that it will take some of its top titles day-and-date as well.)</p>
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DC executives pitch this as a move to save a struggling industry. The top comics sold millions of copies as in the early 1990s, but now only the most popular titles sell more than 100,000 copies. DC senior vice president of digital Hank Kanalz and comiXology CEO David Steinberger both point to the reduction in comic book stores as one of the culprits. Steinberger says that only 60 percent of the United States is currently within 50 miles of a store.</p>
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Thus the move by DC to find new ways to reach its audience. Kanalz says wherever they looked, the answer always seemed to be &ldquo;digital, digital, digital.&rdquo; Kanalz says that in DC&rsquo;s day-and-date digital tests, sales have actually gone up. That doesn&rsquo;t mean the digital releases increased physical sales, but they don&rsquo;t seem to have hurt them, either.</p>
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&ldquo;People who go to comic book stores like going to comic book stores,&rdquo; Steinberger says.</p>
TechnologyThe PressAppleAppsComic booksCommerceAnthony HaDC ComicsMarvelMobileOnlineTabletTime WarnerTue, 06 Sep 2011 10:44:26 +0000134601 at http://www.adweek.com